Cadence had just had a very successful trip to her therapist. She had been glad to have a session that focused on a lot of positives. Together, her and her therapist had been working on building some social skills, particularly those that involved making friends and meeting new people. She had tried many of those techniques the day before, and they had worked. Cadence was very happy, but underneath that there was a worry that she had expressed as well. Cadence knew she could be “a lot” and was hoping that wouldn’t push Ilesha away. They hadn’t talked since the day before when they had met, but Cadence sent a message now, reaching out to her new friend.

Heya! I just wanted to say it was very nice to meet you yesterday! I had a lot of fun! Hope all is well.”

It was not his home.  It was not his birthright, but he had business here.  Omar was here already and he had his mission. For now, Giovanni, The Jackal, would need to work in the shadows.  Omar was here to be his eyes, his face, and his voice. Moscow was the jewel of civilization.  Egypt was the cradle. 

Giovanni entered the hotel, and got a room, for now this would be his place to stay, although he might go elsewhere.  For now, it was time to get used to being back in the city. It seemed an odd, dark place compared to the sands of Cairo, and Giovanni felt a bit of claustrophobia at that. It didn't matter, Moscow was a momentary distraction for now.  Soon he would achieve his destiny.

((OoC: This is gonna be the only post for this thread - just establishing Gio is back in Moscow for a bit))

She was working from a coffee shop when the message she’d been waiting for came through. DeGarmo wanted to meet; he finally thought he had something for her. Her expression stilled; not displeasure, but certainly something guarded as she swiped the message away and sat back in her chair, hands wrapped around her coffee cup. Contemplation furrowed her brow, and she stared at her work screen, but her thoughts were all inward. She remembered what Jay had said that night by the lake, about the powers he feared were involved. They’d never spoken of it since, and so much had happened in the days afterwards that perhaps his desire for answers had buried itself under the trauma. She wouldn’t blame him for that. But her sense of the shadowy game being played above their heads was too insidious to ignore. Being caught unknowingly in its currents had cost Jay everything, and Natalie couldn’t let it lie. Even if she never admitted to him the dangerous game she was playing.

Her eyes swept suddenly upwards as a figure loomed over her table. For a moment fear tightened her chest at the disturbance, especially given the measure of her thoughts. But the tension fled when she recognised the man who presently slipped himself into the space opposite. Little betrayed her reaction further despite her surprise at seeing him here. A heavy coat draped his shoulders against the Russian cold, a mildly discomforted twist pursing his lips as he cleared the condensation from his glasses with a pocket square. It had been years since she’d last seen him, and though grey pierced his neatly manicured beard and new lines tightened his eyes, he had barely changed. Transported unexpectedly to memories of her distant childhood, Natalie said nothing, only raised her brows in belligerent askance. Oscar Chamberlain was her grandfather’s aide, and he was a long way from home.

“You’ve ignored calls, messages and plane tickets. Are you really surprised to see me, Natalie?”

“It's inconvenient,” she said levelly, as though men who ought to be in London showed up at her table all the time. The unexpectedness of his presence had not dimmed, but she parsed through it quickly in the moment; realised what it must mean if Oscar was here. She knew he’d be alone, that there would likely be a car idling out on the street for them. He was perched on his seat for propriety’s sake, and not because he intended to wait long for her obedience. The only irritation he outwardly displayed was in the lenses of his glasses, but it wasn’t what he was annoyed with.

In truth Natalie had been diligently avoiding this reckoning. She’d understood the moment Brandon had made his oblique threats in exchange for his permission that she’d just passed a threshold to consequence – because she was never going to bring Jay back to the Custody unwillingly. Not that she could have remotely predicted how badly things turned out. Her mother had already made Edward’s Northbrook’s fury at her decisions perfectly clear to her, but she’d convinced herself it would wane if she managed to keep her head down for long enough. This made for an unwelcome complication, and poorly timed.

“It most certainly is,” Oscar agreed, hooking the glasses back on his nose, and gesturing with one gloved hand to the exit. Natalie’s jaw tightened, but she did not argue. Instead she closed her screen and slid her wallet from the table. DeGarmo’s message burned in the back of her mind; the tangibility of answers denied. Oscar stood when she did, but was clearly reluctant to trust her trailing behind him. A smirk revealed the measure of his trust. He recalled the recalcitrant teenager she had been, clearly. She shot her response before she tucked the phone away – |Three days. Send me the location| – and then shouldered out the door.

Heya - I just want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! I wanted to extend a special thanks to you guys for being absolutely amazing. It’s been a rough time for me lately and being here and having your support has been a big part of keeping my sanity. Everyday I’m glad I came back and started writing here again. Love you dorks (even Jaxen!)

[[continued from A Day Off]]

The bar was immense, and lined with old fashioned leather stools. Old world pamphlets pasted the walls between the wood mouldings, and there was a selection of cosy chairs and tables. But the reason Nesrin steered them in was the blazing hearth she knew was tucked at the back, since both Anna and Cade seemed particularly bothered by the cold, and it was an easy way to win favour. An old jukebox rested against one of the walls, one of many curios in the decor as the eye roamed. The place had an old world feel, starting right from the sign above the door: The Apothecary.

The barman glanced up as they spilled in from the cold winter afternoon. “Welcome to the Apothecary,” he said. His accent had a delightfully authentic lilt of Irish, and the slight boredom of one enduring a quiet day-shift as he assessed his new customers. His gaze lingered naturally on the two beautiful women, and Nesrin used the opportunity to shrink back unnoticed as his attention passed over her.

“I’ll have whatever you’re having,” she said to her companions, not aimed at any of them in particular, then added as she plucked at the front of her hoodie: “I’m just gonna try and clean this up real quick.”

In the bathroom Nesrin considered what she knew – about Kallisti, about Nox, and how Wicked was in their orbit. Her suggestions always had a bit of longevity to them, but nothing she could guarantee would still be to her benefit days later. There was always the chance, though, that he’d already be kindly disposed to her. And if he really had accessed the coffee shop’s camera to check out Cade, then he was exactly who she needed on her side.

She ran the hot water and pulled the hoodie over her head, dumping it in with one hand. With the other she shot an encrypted message, from Bode to The Wicked Truth:

You helped me out so I'll help you: let yourself get outbid, you don't want the trouble that comes along with this thing.

Hi, I'm Gio's wife.     Nice to meet everyone!

I've been roleplaying for a long time, and I'd like to give this place a try.

The thing is, because I've rp'd in so many WoT settings that are more in the Third Age, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what's going on, and even making a character.  It's a "Can't see the forest for all the trees" kind of feeling.

Can someone point me in a couple of threads to read, maybe some key characters to check out to help me get started?  Just to kind of help break it down.